Okay, y'all--here's the deal. I'm trying to determine if all my gasket sealing around the cat has made a difference and the new cat is working (or not). In order to do that, I need info on how to run a test burn. Last night I set a personal best for a top temp of 450! :lol: We aren't having cold enough temps to make high temp test burns pleasant, but I need to be ready when we hit the 20s 'cause we probably won't have much more of them.
Usually I load, get the wood fully involved with intake and pipe damper at full open, wait til the flue temp reaches 300 (min), engage the cat and shut the air to just barely open, leaving the damper full open. The top temp is usually showing about 200 to 250 at cat engage, but then comes up to between 350 and 400 and no higher for the duration. That's why last night was such a surprise. Last night left the air full open longer and the stove started roaring, vibrating the connecting pipe and sounding like a train was just outside the window. The flue temp was near 500, the top temp was at 450, but that stove gets plumb scary when it's at full tilt, so I cut it back to just open intake, with pipe damper still full open. Top temp dropped to its customary 350-400 range and stayed there! Am I cutting it back too far?
Bear in mind that we're using the same wood (very dry heavy oak pallet pieces and 1000 year-old cedar) that was used with the FV--which would go to 600+ in no time with the procedure just described. So, how do you pros do it? I have some splits that I need to use for the official test, but need to know what to do before I use 'em, thus the pre-test burn test burn. Trying to get the top up to around 600 or a bit more and the flue temp to drop. Is that the right objective?
When the air is cut to zero (with the cat engaged) things rock along for a while with lazy flame and secondaries and then the box goes dark, with lots of wood still left. If left long enough, the stove will give off a loud CHUUFF as the flames come back. Sounds like something from my "reverse operation" days, when the cat would light and the gases would "explode".
Make it a "cookbook" procedure and use small words so th' Texas Boy can understand, okay? Pictures I can color would also be nice! I have a brand new box of crayons!!
Thanks--
Usually I load, get the wood fully involved with intake and pipe damper at full open, wait til the flue temp reaches 300 (min), engage the cat and shut the air to just barely open, leaving the damper full open. The top temp is usually showing about 200 to 250 at cat engage, but then comes up to between 350 and 400 and no higher for the duration. That's why last night was such a surprise. Last night left the air full open longer and the stove started roaring, vibrating the connecting pipe and sounding like a train was just outside the window. The flue temp was near 500, the top temp was at 450, but that stove gets plumb scary when it's at full tilt, so I cut it back to just open intake, with pipe damper still full open. Top temp dropped to its customary 350-400 range and stayed there! Am I cutting it back too far?
Bear in mind that we're using the same wood (very dry heavy oak pallet pieces and 1000 year-old cedar) that was used with the FV--which would go to 600+ in no time with the procedure just described. So, how do you pros do it? I have some splits that I need to use for the official test, but need to know what to do before I use 'em, thus the pre-test burn test burn. Trying to get the top up to around 600 or a bit more and the flue temp to drop. Is that the right objective?
When the air is cut to zero (with the cat engaged) things rock along for a while with lazy flame and secondaries and then the box goes dark, with lots of wood still left. If left long enough, the stove will give off a loud CHUUFF as the flames come back. Sounds like something from my "reverse operation" days, when the cat would light and the gases would "explode".
Make it a "cookbook" procedure and use small words so th' Texas Boy can understand, okay? Pictures I can color would also be nice! I have a brand new box of crayons!!
Thanks--
